Wildcats able to pull away from RPI

DURHAM — John Henrion is one of five seniors on the University of New Hampshire hockey team who made his college debut in a loss at Rensselaer more than three years ago.

The clubs were meeting for the first time since then Saturday night at the Whittemore Center.

The latest chapter in the series between old ECAC rivals might be even more memorable for Henrion, who scored the go-ahead goal early in the second period on a pretty play as the Wildcats defeated the Engineers, 5-2, in their final non-conference game of the regular season.

Fourth-ranked UNH improved to 13-3-2 with its second straight win while RPI fell to 6-9-4.

Defensemen scored three goals for the Wildcats, who face No. 2 Boston College next weekend in a home-and-home series.

UNH, which seemed to gain momentum as the game progressed, scored once in the first period and twice each in the second and third. The Wildcats outshot RPI over the last two periods, 21-11.

“I told the team what I liked best about tonight is that we got stronger as the game went on,” said UNH coach Dick Umile.

The Wildcats scored twice in a span of 2:17 in the second period to snap a 1-all tie. Henrion connected at the 5:01 mark and defenseman Justin Agosta made it 3-1 at 7:18.

“That’s what you’re hoping for,” Umile said. “I really believe it came from good defense and transition. We took control of the game in the second period.”

UNH went ahead stay on Henrion’s one-timer from the left circle off a cross-ice feed from Kevin Goumas, who carried the puck down the right side to initiate the odd-man rush.

Greg Burke drew the defenseman away from Henrion, and that opened up the passing lane.

“That was a picture-perfect, 3-on-2 rush,” Henrion said. “That’s how coach Umile draws it up in practice. It was great that we were able to score on that rush.”

Agosta also scored from the left circle when his attempted centering pass deflected in off the skate of RPI’s CJ Lee. Dan Correale and Jay Camper drew assists.

The Wildcats played a more complete game compared to a couple of inconsistent efforts while splitting two games in the Dartmouth tournament.

“I think we played a full 60-minute hockey game,” Henrion said. “It was good to get back to the way we were before the break. That’s a positive thing going forward.”

Camper set up defenseman and senior captain Connor Hardowa, who scored his first goal of the season on a one-timer from the right circle early in the third period to make it 4-1.

“I thought we definitely got better as the game went on,” Hardowa said. “We knew they were a hard-working team and they were going to come at us pretty hard. I think we handled them pretty well in the first and we just kept getting better and put a few pucks in the net.”

The assist on Hadowa’s goal was Camper’s fourth point in the last two games. The sophomore forward had just two points in his previous 18.

Jeff Silengo added an empty-netter with 4:28 remaining. RPI’s Mike Zalewski made it 5-2 on a power-play goal with 1:40 left.

Defenseman Eric Knodel gave the Wildcats a 1-0 lead with a low wrist shot from the left circle midway through the first period for his fifth goal of the season. Casey Thrush assisted on what was UNH’s second shot of the game at the 10:15 mark.

The Engineers pulled even at 16:48 on a slap shot from the left point by defenseman Curtis Leonard that beat goalie Casey DeSmith high to the glove side.

RPI outshot the Wildcats in the first period, 11-6. UNH turned that around in the second, scoring twice on their first four shots and outshooting the Engineers in the middle period, 10-5.

“I thought they were very good in the second period,” said RPI coach Seth Appert. “They started winning defensive zone puck battles and that led to some transition chances for them … The second half of the game I thought New Hampshire was harder on their sticks than we were.”

UNH played the game without junior forward Nick Sorkin, who fractured a hand in last weekend’s tournament at Dartmouth and is expected to miss two to three weeks.

The Wildcats were coming off an overtime win Monday against Bemidji State at the Dartmouth tournament and RPI lost to Boston University in OT on Friday night, 3-2.

“It’s all about playing well at the right time,” Umile said. “The guys are playing with confidence. We’ll need it next weekend against a very good Boston College team.”